Class Of 2001 Moves Into End Zone

Graduates Are Told: `go Ahead And Beam

You Should Be Proud'

Bloomfield High School's Class of 2001 sat on the 50-yard line Tuesday of the championship Warhawks' football field.

On one side, girls wore orange gowns and white carnations; on the other, the boys wore blue gowns and orange carnations.

There were no rivalries on the field this day, just the feeling of accomplishment.

Class treasurer Lan Tieu spoke of the past four years -- humorously telling of the pressure of high school.

``It was us sitting in the seats of study hall, daydreaming about a day that is now a reality,'' she said. ``Going out in a snowstorm to mail out college applications, or joining clubs for a day so you can add them in your resume for school or work.''

Ashley McGriff, class secretary, said high school was fun while it lasted, but now it's over.

``As we turn our tassels and `Pomp and Circumstance' is played, we have entered adulthood. Mommy and Daddy or Grandma and Grandpa should no longer be the ones to wake us up in the morning,'' she said. ``We should no longer be relying on them for money or rides to and from where we'll be going.''

``So, I say to you, the graduating Class of 2001, the class of the new millennium: Keep your heads up, strive for the best and make your parents proud of whatever you choose to do,'' she said.

Commencement speaker Patricia Wilson-Coker, commissioner of the state Department of Social Services, offered moving remarks to the parents and to the graduates.

``When my only child strolled across that stage, my face lit up like a lantern,'' she told the parents. ``I smiled from ear to ear. So go ahead and beam. You should be proud.''

Wilson-Coker said graduates will be reaching for self-direction and career satisfaction. But, she warned, ``Far too many people never reach that destination.''

She offered eloquent words of advice:

``In the next few years, you can move forward ... you can move backward ... or, you can just stand still. It's up to you.''

She continued:

``You have to want (even when you're not sure what you want).

``You have to believe that you can.

``You have to be patient enough to walk before you run, agile enough to jump trenches when you can see them and resilient enough to climb out of holes when you can't.

``Remember that your success is measured not in what you have done for yourself, but what you have done for others.''